Personal Brand and Passion

February 18th, 2008 by

I had the opportunity to be a guest on the morning show at WCRN 830 True Talk Radio hosted by Maurice Lewis who was in for Peter Blute. Joining me was Jack Cutone. The discussion centered around the presentation I did last week on the value of personal branding at Jack’s class at Quinsigamond College called “Business Administration Capstone”. The goal of this course is to prepare these business students for making the transition from school to work.

Whether you are just coming out of college or have been out in the market for a while, there are two challenges that I want to impress on people:

  • You need to let your passion drive your career choice.
  • You need to differentiate yourself from others in a way that is truly unique.

The first challenge is finding a career where you can “do what you love and love what you do” which makes it easy for you to succeed. In a post on the Personal Brand Marketing Blog, Vikram Rajan states:

“Branding, especially personal branding, is an emotional experience:  For our prospective clients, and for us.  If we don’t feel our passion and purpose, then how can we expect our clients to?” … If you don’t have the inner craving to be rich and famous in your niche target market Community, then don’t even bother.

Think about what he is saying about having the “craving”. Have you ever had to market something you didn’t really believe in? How did you do? I bet people figured it out pretty quickly and you didn’t succeed at achieving the goal you set out. Now, what if that something you are trying to market is you? How successful do you think you will be if you never have a passion for what you are doing? How do you find that unique quality about you that helps you stand out in the crowd?

When you are passionate, excited and engaging, it makes it that much easier to separate yourself from your competition. If you love what you do, you will take the time to:

  • Blog and comment about your passion
  • Participate in the social networks
  • Attend networking events
  • Write a book or develop an information product
  • Continue to develop your expertise
  • Start a podcast or video podcast

Think about what it would do for your personal brand if your blog, article or profile is one of the top results in Google when someone searches for something related to what you do. How do you think you would be perceived by your potential client? What kind of doors would that open for you?

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  • http://healthcarecollaboration.com Ken

    I enjoyed your post; we are definitely on the same wavelength.

    “If you don’t have the inner craving to be rich and famous in your niche target market Community, then don’t even bother.” is not where I derive my passion; for me, it all comes down to how do I serve clients, add value, and build mutually reinforcing long-term relationships; the rest is just the law of attraction and the law of reciprocity (and some visceral connection via brand identity). I am glad that you differentiated passion from craving; addicts crave cocaine, cigarettes, and alcohol, all of which lead to premature death.

    Keep up the great work; what you do is truly important.

    Ken

  • http://masterful-marketing.com Debra

    Thanks Ken. Passion makes being successful much, much easier. When you do what you love, you love what you do. Your career will be as enjoyable as a hobby you love.